Squat 325 x 3

Good and interesting day today.

Started with squats. Definitely had a good day, but also definitely wasn't 100%. My lower back is still feeling a little tired, painful and soft, which was apparent during warmups. However, it felt better as I went along. Did a nice long warmup, then slid on my brand new knee sleeves and got started squatting!  Sleeves feel great, make my knees feel super warm and definitely help to remind me to be pushing my knees out and forward as I squat. Also, form felt so much better today when I focused on keeping a cool head and squatting each rep of each set as if it was a single at 135. Hit the bar, then 135 x 5,3, then 205 x 3. Then, loaded up 250 x 3, 290 x 3, and finally 325 x 3. All felt good. As per usual. 325 definitely felt harder and slower than I would have liked. But the form was way better, which is what is most important. Harder and slower is to be expected, since I am doing a TON of higher rep, work capacity stuff, eating less, training more, and I'm busy with RENT and whatnot. However, as long as I keep focusing on getting every rep that is prescribed, I will be fine.

Next up, dropped back to 290 and hit it for a set of 2 reps with a long pause, then on the 3 mins hit 250 for a set of 4 with a long pause. These especially did not really feel good on my lower back. Normally they don't bother it at all, but since it was especially tender today, they just didn't feel great. However, 290 x 2 was really solid, and I probably could have hit a 3rd if I wanted to.

Finally, my first day of hard back training! It was a bit strange, but overall really good. Put 135 on the ground and hit the bar every 3 minutes, doing widest possible grip snatch grip deadlifts, with mostly stiff legs to keep the load on my back. Hit 135 x 10, 155 x 8, 175 x 6, 195 x 4, 215 x 4, then 235 for like 4-5 sets of 3. It wasn't much weight, but those triples were pretty tough - the lockouts got nasty on the 3rd rep of each set. Then, dropped back to 215 and did it for a touch n go set of 7. Overall, working my back this way is a bit strange. The weights are so light, and it is hard to feel like you are training a muscle when you aren't contracting it, but just keeping it locked in. But despite how they feel, these deads were DEFINITELY not easy, and if I simply keep doing them each monday till I am wiped, I don't see HOW my back is not gonna get way stronger. And I definitely worked my ass off today. So I'm just gonna keep at it.

Overall, great day. Squats are solid as a rock, getting slowly better at the long paused reps, and getting started building an invincible back! Lets keep at it.